Lil’ Cupcake
28 May 2012 2 Comments
in Tutorials
This is Lil’ Cupcake, a chibi fashion doll. She is three pieces – head, arm and body. I called her Cupcake because she is a pancake style doll but better, like a cupcake. 
She has such cute lil ears!
She has thumbs, and her knees,elbows and hips are stitched across so she is floppy. You don’t have to do that though – you could make her so she is stiff legged. There is an optional stiff bent arm included in the pattern. Her shoulders are jointed with an internal button joint, like a poppet. I think this makes her form more appealing, and easier to design clothing for.
Speaking of clothing – she might be the same size as YoSD sized ball joint dolls, the chunky kind, not the slim. Unfortunately, I do not have a chunky YoSD… will have to download a pattern or two to see the size difference.
This is her w/o clothes.
The pattern and the instructions are on the patterns page.
I am also working on a boy body and heads with different types of ears!
Why that shirt I made doesn’t fit
13 Feb 2011 Leave a Comment
I gave up sewing my own clothing years ago. It was such an exercise in frustration: I would cut the pattern size out that my measurements indicated I was, sew the garment and put it on… and it didn’t fit. The shoulder seams would slop off, underbust seams wouldn’t fit under the bust, and the whole thing would sit wrong.
Here’s what I didn’t know – the measurements on patterns are a lie. According to Simplicity, I am a perfect size 20. But if I make a size 20, it doesn’t fit correctly, because I do not have a B-cup. If you are more than a B-cup, you should use your upper bust measurement, not your full bust. In truth, I am a 16 at the shoulders, not a 20. I will need to add fullness at the bustline (and ONLY the bust area), however, to get a shirt to fit. Typically, I also like a little less ease at the waist and more at the hips, so this reduces my waist to an 18 and my hips to 22.
I didn’t learn this until I took a sewing class – this would be my first sewing class in 15 years. I wish I had known this little gem years ago – I would have had a closet full of awesome clothes that I made instead of a pile of scrap fabrics.
Today’s Dinner
19 Dec 2010 Leave a Comment
in Cooking, Five dollar dinner project
Broccoli, cheddar and potato soup
2 pounds potatoes: .85
Broccoli florets: 1.00
Carrots: .20
Bacon: 1.00
spices: .25
Milk: .40
Cheese: 2.00
Crescent rolls: 1.25
Total: $6.95, so that’s a bit over my $5.00 limit. I costed out the broccoli at $1.00 because I used only the florets. The broccoli stalks will be ground up and used for tomorrow’s meatloaf. And we have a lot of leftovers, so it all works out in the end. Also, I planned on making biscuits at a cost of .50 instead of the more expensive crescent rolls, but I ran out of milk.
Tomorrow’s dinner: Meatloaf cupcakes
Ground beef: 2.01
Broccoli stalks: .69
Carrots: .20
Oats: .10
Egg: .15
Spices: .20
Ketchup: .10
Total: 3.45. I got 1.55 to play with for a side. I may serve with biscuits (if I get milk) and peas. I got frozen peas on sale for .88, and any leftovers can extend the can of split pea soup I got in the cupboard.
The High Cost of Eating
14 Dec 2010 2 Comments
in Cooking, Five dollar dinner project
Recently, Mr. Ghilie and I went out to eat a steak dinner where we live. Friday nights, The Spot serves the most fabulous steak and shrimp dinner… but the total was about thirty dollars. Last week I made us steak and mashed potatoes at home for under ten. It got me thinking – how much does it really cost us eat?
Tonight, I made split pea soup and grilled cheese sandwiches. The soup was .99, add some bacon (.50), a third a loaf of bread (.50) and six slices of Kraft singles, also .50. I also added some spices to the soup, and some margarine. So our whole dinner cost about $2.75. It was pretty good, but not particularly healthy.
I got some time coming up, and I think I am going to start a new project starting next week – eating healthy dinners on $5.00 or less. Can it be done? Maybe not by me. I’m not a particularly good cook. But I’m gonna give it a shot.
Anyone got any good recipes?
Workin’
14 Dec 2010 1 Comment
in Crafting
Working on an alien pattern. These are the same pattern pieces. I just changed the grain layout to get the two very different results.
How often do you ‘poo?
05 Dec 2010 3 Comments
I ‘poo twice a week. I’m trying to ‘poo less. Over Thanksgiving week, I didn’t ‘poo at all…
The poo in question is not what most people think – it’s shampoo. Shampoo is made of harsh detergents that strip hair of its natural protectant, sebum, and leave it exposed to the elements. Most of us then apply conditioner – oils and moisturizers that do not do as good a job as what our scalp naturally produces. Of course, our scalps react to this stripping by producing more sebum, leaving our hair an oily mess in a day or two. Shampoo and conditioner are expensive and not effective. Not to mention – what are we doing to our water supply by dumping chemicals down the shower drain every day?
How do I combat the oil slick on day 4, then? The problem isn’t the oil, it’s where it’s concentrated, namely, all on top. I stand under a hot water shower and guide the oils down the hair shaft with a fine tooth comb. I use a little bit of conditioner as a cleanser, working it into my scalp after combing. Then I blow dry it.
The difference is astounding. My hair has no products in it, and yet it is shiny, full of body, and fly-aways are almost non-existent. My hair feels different as well – strong and thick and moisturized. On the days I use shampoo (baby shampoo, and no conditioner), my hair lies thin and flat against my scalp, but it doesn’t tangle anymore.
To those who might think this is gross – why is stripping your hair to replace natural moisturizers with chemicals better? A marketer decided we needed to do this every day in the seventies so they could sell more shampoo and conditioner. Washing hair once a week used to be the norm. My hair doesn’t smell, and it looks better than ever.
It’ll be our dirty little secret.
The things I learn in sewing class…
27 Oct 2010 2 Comments
in Crafting
Today I learned why ready-to-wear and sewing patterns hate me. First, a little background: I have been sewing for about 15 years, and I am mostly self taught. I don’t particularly enjoy sewing clothing because I put so much work into it and it doesn’t fit right. Today, I have learned why.
Patternmakers think my ass is huge. Enormous.
Thing is – I never thought so. I always thought I was pretty much in line with the majority of women, a fairly representative sample of the hourglass (other than the thunder thighs). My waist and hip measurement always falls in line with the pattern size, so what gives?
In class, I am making Simplicity 2562, a wide leg pants pattern for a curvy fit. Here’s what I had to do to make these pants fit:
1. Lengthen the center back seam, above the crotch curve. This makes sense because every single pair of ready to wear pants sits lower in the back than it does in the front. I don’t have a single pair of pants that doesn’t do the ‘backslide.’
2. Widen darts by half an inch. I already made the curvy option, so I don’t quite understand this. Shouldn’t they take into account that a curvy girl has a bigger booty? Sure, it gave me two darts instead of one, but I think the issue lies in the fact that a pattern size 20 is exactly the same shape as a pattern size 10, just larger. Show me the curvy size twenty that is shaped like a 10 and I’ll show you a plus sized model.
3. Widen the side seam at the hip 3/4″. This is what happens when darts get bigger. Gotta add it back in somewhere.
I can see, though, that these pants are really going to fit, and furthermore, they are going to flatter. So I am sending out a call to all you patternmakers – Make sure you include my booty!
Crafting for good and not evil
13 Aug 2010 4 Comments
Toy Society Drop at K-State: August 11
Toys dropped so far: 4
Gift certificates given to strangers at Wal-Mart: 12
Any more ideas for making the world a better place?
Sociology Wrap Up
09 Aug 2010 2 Comments
in Sociology
So, what have I learned about the craft movement through the sociological lens?
1. When Richard Foley asked Richard Sennett what the guiding idea of his book, The Craftsman, was, Sennent answered, “Making is thinking.” In our post-modern society, we are increasingly separating the hand from the head and dummying down our systems. As people, we need to re-attach the hand to the head – the act of creation validates us as human.
2. The top occupations for women (mostly service based) do not allow for working with our hands. For that reason, the craft movement is bound to be more popular with women than with men, who may receive their fulfillment on the job.
3. Crafting has always been a way for women to form communities. These communities form faster and easier via the internet – ironically, in a time when the digital age has all but stopped face-to-face communications.
4. Crafting, working with the hands, is good therapy for men and women. Like I said in #1, the act of creation validates us and as I said in #3, it helps us to reach out to others. Both are important to our mental and emotional well being.
5. Pattern making is a pain in the butt, but I wanted to share something more than a few toys for the toy society. I feel pride and fulfillment every time some one makes up one of my patterns, and I also feel as if I have shared some of my knowledge to someone else.
6. Traditional women’s work can be used to subvert (and indeed, has been used in the past to subvert) traditional values.
7. Creative arts are used for expression of individuality (duh) and for taking back control of one’s public image.
8. Giving can sometimes make someone feel like a thief in the night.
9. Crafting can seem like a way out of the capitalist values this country holds dear, but capitalism has a way of subverting everything.
Crafting away from capitalism?
07 Aug 2010 3 Comments
in Sociology
Hooray for inter-library loan! I finally got my copy of Handmade Nation: the rise of DIY, art, craft and design, a documentary by Faythe Levine. One of the themes throughout this documentary is craft as a way to get away from capitalism as it exists today. Andrew Wagner from American Craft Magazine says in the documentary that a crafter is “someone making stuff by themselves, for themselves.” Sabrina Gschwandtner of KnitKnit Magazine says that “a crafter is… making a stance against hyper consumer culture” and Dennis Stevens of Redefining Craft says that “people are subverting the capitalistic big box retail system.”
Really? Maybe some are.
The pressure to sell what you make, to participate in capitalism and not just make “by yourself, for yourself” is enormous. Every time I make something someone tells me that I should sell it. And don’t think it hasn’t occurred to me. A simple crunch of the numbers, however, shows me that I would make less than a dollar per hour to make one of my dolls, and only a couple dollars per hour to make a doll’s t-shirt. This is the reason I only dabble in selling – most of the things I make are given away. But the lure is so strong – make money from doing what you love!
This view is supported by Sara Mosle in her article for Slate. She says that the allure of etsy.com “is the feminist promise that you can have a family and create hip arts and crafts from home during flexible, reasonable hours while still having a respectable, fulfilling, and remunerative career.” This fantasy, of course, is false, and it is only peddled to women. Etsy is made up of 96% women because men “have evaluated the site on purely economic terms and found it wanting.” One of their biggest success stories only makes $15,000 per year, and that is before the costs of supplies are deducted from the gross profits. “Etsy exerts a downward pressure on prices,” Mosle claims, because the crafter is in competition with the rest of the world, and therefore cannot charge a premium. Sounds like capitalism as we know it – people doing piecework for below-subsistence pay.
Some of us choose not to participate. I craft because I love to make things and generally give away the items that I make. Other things I keep for myself.
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